I just want to point out that it is not very friendly or mature to make fun of other postors.

Anyone is welcome to post any cruise related question here. There are no rules as to how it must be phrased or even how many times they can ask it. If you are not interested in the topic of someone's post then just move on, but please don't make a non-cruise related derogatory comment about the person. It doesn't add anything to the conversation, in fact it only detracts.

There are no stupid questions. Everyone's needs, frame of reference and prior experience is different. If someone asks if they serve peanuts in the bars on board it could be because they have a life-threatening legume allergy. Someone who does not spell well may be dislexic, someone who repeats themselves may have short term memory loss from an accident or be on medication for a life-threatening illness. As adults we are supposed to give others the benefit of the doubt and not judge them based upon appearances.

I urge everyone to proceed with tolerance - to keep all messages and replies on the topic of cruising. Any posts that aren't in line with our terms of use are subject to being deleted.

We had the friendliest boards for the longest time. I find the bashing to be sad as well. It reminds me of playground antics where one person tries to get all his friends to gang up on another kid. They call him names in the hope that he will respond in anger so they can make even more fun of him. That isn't even acceptable behavior for kindergarten children - so it eludes me why adults would think it is funny.

the funny thing is it seems to be one poster?maybe after so many months of the same questions and hearing about her life amd seems to take off the cruise subjects seems to me that she put her personal life out there to much maybe you can address that

I enjoy these boards very much but lately some posters have been so mean spirited. It's infortunate because a majority of people on here are so helpful no matter how many questions one asks. Personally I prefer to ask all of my questions in separate posts. Clumped together some get missed. Anyway I agree if someone doesn't care for a particular poster's style or the content of their post they should just move on to the next one. No need to be unkind.

Definately no stupid questions - before our 1st cruise - we didn't know what to expect. It was from all the collective - see the word here COLLECTIVE advice from everyone that we were a little more prepared for our trip & made our trip much more enjoyable.

It seems as if these postings started after she introduced her personal life into this board-- post after post about her personal life totally unrelated to cruising.

All the "bashing" has gotten personal NOT because of the questions she asks--
its her responses to them.

most of this started after she bashed the cruise line for changing a charge policy at an alternate dining venue on a ship. She kept that thread going for a long time -- and introduced information about herself that most of us frankly are not interested in hearing about.

Paul, perhaps you could assist ssatterly by privately suggesting how she posts questions , how not to give information about herself in a public forum , etc.

However, you must also consider , as some of us already have -- that she's after attention rather than information .

How can she not get personal when someone searches the boards and discovers she had a post inquiring about a cruising companion then asks her why she's posting that when she has a boyfriend? Come on people, grow up. Her posts get personal when others make them personal. For example... she asked which restaurant was better, Chops or Portofin's, rather than answering her question someone tells her to conduct a search to find the answer becuase it's already been asked, then someone else makes it personal by asking why she doesn't have a problem with the fee for these restaurants but does for JR. Still no answer to her question. And if someone out there is lonely (not saying you are ssatterly) and this is a place they can get attention so what!! You don't have to pay attention to them, move on.

Post Edited (05-21-04 07:15)

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sorry, i was one of the "rude" name calling, posters.
i was taking up for her at the time, no excuse for me to act that way, but it made me mad and i lost my temper.
i know now that this board is more of the "older" generation, and the main stream do not think what i say is funny?
i chilled, so i think they (bad posters) should also!
if you see a bad comment, then report it. don't get mad and act like a A** like i did.it just brings you down to there level.

Shubaby.... thank you for "owning up" -- I have also misjudged audiences on other message boards before and found out I was out of line also. It is very easy to believe that most people are like ourselves, and it can be a real shocker when we discover how different they are - and the Internet is RIPE for that kind of misinterpretation.

I can tell you I have met people in person that I knew as acquaintances online, and I was shocked at how different they were from what I expected. They might be extremely religious, concentration camp survivors, in a wheelchair, extremely shy and easily embarassed, maybe they grew up as orphans in foster homes and have overwhelming feelings of inadequacy -- geeze, you never know who you are talking to. It is just important to have compassion - you may be hurting someone's feelings a whole lot more than you realize.

And I also agree that it is NOT a good idea to flood a board like this with personal information. If someone does go on about their personal life it is a safe bet they REALLY need to talk. Haven't we all really needed that at some time? If someone does it and you want to help I recommend talking the conversation offline.

Ssatterly... I agree with you that most of your posts I have seen have started off by being cruise related, I really don't see you intentionally provoking anyone personally. I don't need to go into your personal life, I have been through a divorce, it is very painful. If you "vented" here I can accept that, but I don't really recommend saying personal things in public, it is "off-topic" and not a wise thing to do anyway especially if there are going to be court cases, etc. I understand you did so because people were challenging you to defend yourself. You probably aren't going to win that challenge - the nature of the internet is that people rarely say they are sorry. The wise course is to rise above it all and move on.

And if you don't like her posts, please just skip the message, like changing the channel on the TV.

I don't see the point in being rude to someone if they obviously seem to be in pain. Seems kind of sadistic to me.

I agree completely. These boards are for information and enjoyment, not for critizing or making fun of others. The "gripes" links do get a bit wild sometimes, but most of it consistsd of our sometimes feeble attempts at humor.

You guys do get a little rough over here in my opinion!!! I'm a big poster on another board and come over for a little diversity...but sometimes it get a little out of hand. A couple friendly gabs amoungst friends is OK...if it is done in fun...but don't slam someone because they don't share your opinion. Thanks!

Thank you very much, Paul. I came here from another board because the bashing and name-calling was so rampant, and because it was always from the same group of posters who have been on that board for years, and think they own it. I've always thought that cruisemates was great! I've come to ssatterly's defense a few times, but decided to remove myself because I just didn't want to be involved any longer. Thank you for making us all be aware of the guidelines for posting.

Thank you, Paul. I too came here to get away from some of the rude and inappropriate comments on another board. It had always seemed so nice and pleasant here--until recently. Hopefully we can all get back to answering questions and ignoring things we're not interested in.